Property damage caused by the unrest at the Negombo Prison has exceeded Rs. 100 million, the Department of Prisons said on Monday, putting a figure on the physical cost of the July 5 clash for the first time. The department said its investigations into the incident are still under way.
The sum works out to roughly 299,000 US dollars.
Alongside the structural damage, the clash between two groups of inmates destroyed inmate registration records held at the facility — a loss that complicates the administration of prisoners whose cases are still before the courts.
A prison running at a quarter of its former population
The Negombo Prison held around 2,400 inmates before the unrest. More than 600 remain there now, the rest having been moved elsewhere in the system.
The department said court proceedings involving some of the remaining inmates are being conducted online, while others are being physically produced before the courts.
The July 5 clash killed 32 people and injured more than 100. Justice and National Integration Minister Harshana Nanayakkara gave Parliament the breakdown last week as 22 inmates and 10 prison officers, with 106 inmates and 21 officers injured. It remains one of the deadliest prison disturbances in recent Sri Lankan history.
Report due on the later disturbances
Police Spokesperson ASP F.U. Wootler said a report was expected on Monday from the investigation prison authorities launched into the inmates involved in the more recent unrest at the Kuruwita, Pallansena and New Magazine prisons.
Three inmates died in that later round of disturbances — at New Magazine Prison on the night of August 6, and at Kuruwita Prison and the Pallansena correctional and rehabilitation facility on August 7. Nearly 77 inmates were injured. Post-mortem examinations on the two inmates who died at Kuruwita were scheduled for Monday.
Those incidents followed the Negombo clash and a separate disturbance at Mahara Prison, where damage was assessed separately at more than Rs. 150 million.
The government has since placed Special Task Force, police and tri-forces security at all 33 prisons under a joint mechanism set up on the President’s direction. The Human Rights Commission has summoned prison and security officials to appear before it on August 18.
